Daring to Trust
by LostObsession
Summary: I guess you never really know anyone until something they love gets taken from them and they’re forced to get it back..Betrayal wasn't new to me. But that didn't mean it didn't still hurt..Sawyer's & Kate's POVs during S2 finale. 4th in Choices Series.
1. Itching For a Confrontation

**A/N: **Well, here it is. I'm finally starting the next story in the Choices Series. Unfortunately, writing this took a lot longer than I expected, mainly due to the fact that recently I've been battling a bad case of Writers' Block, which I mentioned on my profile page. I sincerely apologize for the extremely long wait!

This first chapter is about Sawyer's POV during the finale, and the second and last chapter will focus on Kate's POV. Sorry that it's a little short, but I hope everyone still likes it.

**Disclaimer: **Like I've said before, I don't own Lost or any of the characters, etc. that are associated with it. Who says I can't dream though, right?

**_Reviews- _**Thank you to _MagicSwede1965_ and _Orlando-crazy_ for reviewing my previous story in the Choices Series, "Not Perfect."

Now, on with the story...

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Itching For a Confrontation

I'll admit I was more than a little skeptical at first when Mike approached me to be one of the people to go on this so called 'rescue mission.' The guy was makin' the whole thing sound just a little too simple, and I couldn't help but feel suspicious, uneasy. However, almost immediately I pushed my doubts aside. This wasMikeI was talkin' about. _Mike_. The same Mike that, along with Jin, I'd formed some kind of weird bond with while working on, and later sailing on, the raft. I could trust Mike, or so I'd mistakenly thought.

Besides, I felt for the guy. I was there, after all, when Mr. Friendly and his crew had come and wrecked havoc on us rafters- kidnapping Mike's son, shooting me, blowing up the raft we had worked so hard to make. Yeah, I could trust Mike. He was one of my raft buddies, sailing partners. We'd been through a lot together. Besides, at the time, I'd had no reason not to trust him. And trusting someone, somethin' I hadn't done in quite awhile since the con business taught you to always watch your back, started to feel pretty damn good. If only I'd known how wrong I'd been. The one time I finally decided it was safe to start puttin' my complete trust in someone again, it turns out I shouldn't of put my trust in that person at all.

Usually, under normal circumstances, I would have listened to my instincts, trusted the skills I'd learned and perfected from all the years I'd made a livin' as a con man, traveling from place to place and movin' from one job to the next. I wouldn't have agreed to go hiking into the magic forest in order to ambush the evil tribe of natives, including none other than Zeke, in a surprise attack to get Mike's boy back. But on the island it's different. I've grown close to the people here, the other survivors; I can't pretend I haven't. Unlike in the real world, back in civilization, here on the island I'm starting to feel like I belong, like I could very possibly have real friends. And anyway, the circumstances here on mystery island are anythin' but normal.

What it all comes down to is under normal circumstances or not, I'd been a fool. I'd been a fool to not listen to my instincts, to actually think I could trust Mike completely. See, I'd made a big mistake when deciding to trust Mike. I'd forgotten to take into account the fact that Mike had been with the Others, that he was a desperate father that was willing to do anything to get his son back. Of course, it wasn't entirely my fault for not thinking Mike was capable of betraying us and of murdering two of our own. I mean, come on! It was Mike! Sure, everyone knew the guy wanted to get his kid back, but no one, not even I, thought he would go as far as to commit murder and be responsible for us getting captured by the bad guys. Who would have thought that Mike- good, old, reliable Mike was capable of murder? And not just any murder. No. We're talkin' about the murder of two of our own- fellow survivors, friends. Ana-Lucia and Libby. Rambina and Moonbeam. Now who could've seen that one comin'? I guess you never really know anyone until something they love gets taken from them and they're forced to get it back.

Then there was the betrayal part. It was true Mikey hadn't known Ana-Lulu and the Shrink for that long. Hell, none of us had really known them for that long. So it was probably pretty easy for someone as desperate as he was to push aside his feelings and good judgement, say, "Screw what's right and what's wrong," and then, pull the trigger. But what about the rest of us? Unlike the ragtag bunch from the tail section, he'd known us since we first crashed on this godforsaken rock in the middle of damn nowhere. Together we'd formed our own sweet, little island community. Grown closer. Formed friendships and alliances. Hell, at times the whole thing just seemed a little too cheesy and way too good to be true. But, despite how hard I'd tried to isolate myself and make everyone hate me in the beginning, I had gradually begun to feel like I belonged. Most of all, I found myself makin' friends, real friends, maybe for the first time since I was a kid. And one of those friends was Mike. Actually, Mike was the first true friend I had on this island besides Kate, at least in my mind. So you can imagine my surprise when, during our little trek into the magic forest, after Freckles and I had ourselves a nice, little, stimulatin' gunfight with two of the bad guys, Jack seems to snap and his target is none other than Michael.

Right away, we all realize something's wrong. This is not normal Jack behavior. He has a pissed off look on his face and yells furiously at Mike. And this Jack. We're talking about Jack the hero, the saint, the calm, collected savior. Jack, the dependable doctor, the all around good guy who's known for his patience. He almost never yells. In fact, I'm almost certain that this is the first time I've seen him this mad. It might even top the time he blew up at me when he thought I had Shannon's asthma medication, back when we were still fairly new to the island.

Mike is frantic now, you can see it in his eyes. But the doc is unrelenting, and in the blink of an eye, Jack's throwin' Mike against a nearby tree. I barely have time to think, 'What the hell?' before Mike is suddenly admitting everything, and I mean everything. The rescue mission was fake. He led us out there with the intention of bringing us to them, of leading us into a trap. And there's more.

The silence seems deafening as Hurley, hurt, asks Mike if he killed Ana-Lucia and Libby. Once Mike confirms it I finally see that this is not the same guy I've known since we crashed. The man standing in front of us is a changed man from the one we met all those weeks ago. Because the Mike I remember would never have been able to murder two people in cold blood even if it meant getting his kid back.

As I look around I notice I'm not the only one sent reeling with this unexpected confession. Kate, Hurley and even Jacko have shock written across their faces. Clearly no one could believe how much Michael had changed, that he was capable of murder. Hurley appeared to be taking the admission of guilt from Michael especially hard. I couldn't help but feel kind of bad for the big guy. If it was possible I felt even worse as he once again opened his mouth to talk to Michael, this time simply stating, in response to Michael's defense of not having time to think before shooting Libby, "But if you'd had time to think, you'd still would have shot her, wouldn't you?"

After that everyone seemed to have a hard time even looking at Michael, let alone talking to him. His betrayal had stung deep, and I couldn't get the knowledge that he'd killed Ana-Lucia out of my head. The same Ana-Lucia who, only a little while before she'd gotten killed, I'd had relations with. I couldn't deny that I'd liked the fiery Latina, maybe even felt something for her. And then to find out that one of my friends had been the cause of her death...It was unreal.

The surprises didn't stop there though; they just kept comin'. Come to find out, Jack, our good, noble, fearless leader that could do no wrong, had known from the beginning what Michael had been planning to do and neglected to tell us. Well, ain't that a turn of events? I had no idea Jack was so good at lyin'; I'd just figured he didn't have it in him. Guess I was wrong. The doc was just full of surprises. And I was pissed. Don't get me wrong- I understood why the doc didn't tell us, but the way I figure, we still had a right to know. Some forewarning would been nice. What's more, we could've avoided this whole situation if Saint Jack had bothered to tell us the truth. Now we were stuck in the jungle on a wonderful quest to find and rescue the ten-year-old rugrat of a traitor and killer, unable to turn back since the consequences would be to get killed at the hands of the Others. Just peachy.

Apparently Freckles and Jethro were just as incredulous and angry as I was since they were also staring at Jackass as though they were seeing him in the light for the first time. For his part Jack looked a little ashamed and sorry, and he hastened to reassure us that he had a plan. Well what do you know? Jacko had sense enough to create a plan! I resisted the urge to snort. The damn Jackass and his plans. But, at the moment we had nothing else to go on. It wouldn't hurt to hear what Dr. Doright had to say. "What plan?" I demanded sharply of our leader, who immediately started to explain.

So we had a plan. Great. This just kept gettin' better and better. Jacko had taken the liberty of giving us the details of the plan he and Sayid had worked out. Typical that it would be Jackass and Captain Arab that decided to take matters into their own hands. Also typical that Abdul would be the one to get Saint Jack the hero to agree to lie. It was all for the best my ass. We were about to walk straight into a trap and we were completely clueless. It woulda been nice to have a heads up, but no, of course not. It's not like I expected anything less from Sayid the soldier anyway. And the hero isn't too hard to convince when you use the proper motivation. Just mention someone gettin' hurt and Saint Jack will change his tune right away. Comical, really. Predictable too. Why was I not surprised?

The three of us- Pork Pie, Sassafras, and I now had a very big decision to make. Would we stay with Jack and put our trust in him and the plan? Or would we decide to say, "the hell with the consequences" and, ignoring the dangers and warnings, head back to camp? I was kind of short on trust ever since finding out that Mike was working for them, but I took a moment to weigh my options anyway. Option one: turn around and head back to camp, possibly ruining the whole mission and gettin' killed by an Other. Option two: stay with the group and continue the mission even though there's still a possibility of somethin' going wrong and I ending up dead. What's the difference? It was possible I'd die either way.

It didn't take that long to make my choice. The way I saw it if I was gonna die, I might as well die doing somethin' exciting. Besides, I was itchin' for a confrontation with these evil island natives, especially Zeke. Another gun fight was startin' to sound pretty damn good right about then. And you know, I was thinkin' it might be time for a little old fashioned revenge. When I told Zeke him and I were far from over, I meant it. Well, it was time to live up to my word. No one shoots me and gets away with it. Besides, after all these people have done to us, I'd think it's only fair to inflict a bit of good-natured payback. Actually, you know what? Screw good-natured! It was an all out war! Those people shot me. And that wasn't to mention all the other stuff they pulled. Kidnapping. Attempted murder. Raft arson. Whatever the hell they did to Michael. Overall trauma. The list goes on. I mean, what the hell did we ever do to them? It's not like we landed on this damn rock on purpose!

If you ask me, the whole lot are a bunch of goddamn cowards. They kidnapped a defenseless, pregnant girl and a ten-year-old, they hung a Brit rock god that's horrible at self defense from a tree, and then, to top it all off, they're gettin' Mike to do their dirty work for them. Revenge was sounding better and better. I couldn't wait to give those bastards a taste of their own medicine.

Too bad that didn't happen. So much for havin' a plan!

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**A/N: **Well, there you have it. Hopefully Sawyer isn't too OOC. Writing his POV was a little harder than most for me. Remember: constructive criticism, compliments, thoughts, feelings, questions, etc. are greatly appreciated, and, as always, thanks for reading! The last chapter (Kate's chapter) should be up by sometime next week. 

Until then,

LostObsession, a.k.a. Ana


	2. Returning the Favor

**A/N: **First of all, let me just say that I am so sorry for the huge delay. I absolutely hate giving excuses since it only serves to make me feel worse, but some family and friend stuff came up(everything's explained on my profile), and then with school having started...Ugh. So, here's Kate's chapter. I hope you'll all forgive me for the outrageously long wait, and once again, I sincerely apologize!

**Disclaimer: **See chapter one...

**_Reviews- _**Thank you to _MagicSwede1965_ and _DragonRider8_ for reviewing!

_MagicSwede1965_- I'm glad you thought I did a good job!

_DragonRider8_- I'm really happy to know that you thought I portrayed Sawyer well! He was difficult to write, but not as difficult as Kate, as I found out. Maybe I still have some lingering traces of Writers' Block? Sorry I wasn't able to update sooner; I feel so bad about that! I hope you still like this chapter!

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Returning the Favor

Something wasn't right. I had an uneasy feeling from the beginning, ever since Michael had come to us with a plea to help him get Walt back by launching an almost spur-of-the-moment rescue mission. Or maybe the sense of apprehensiveness emerged before then, when Jack and I discovered Michael wandering through the forest in the middle of the night, heading back toward camp. Whenever it started, the bottom line is that I knew there was more to the mission than the obvious. There was something else going on, something else at work, but I just didn't want to see it. I didn't want it to be real.

My suspicion only increased when, just before we set off, Michael mentioned that the Others were nothing but a bunch of hillbillies, that we'd easily overpower them. After all, we even had the element of surprise on our side.

I agreed that we had the element of surprise, but what Michael had said about the Others being hillbillies couldn't be right. Everything we'd discovered pointed to the fact that the Others were anything but hillbillies. It just wasn't possible. The Others had guns; they were smart enough to plant an imposter inside of our camp. And what about the medical hatch Claire, Rousseau, and I had stumbled upon while wandering around in the jungle, trying to restore Claire's memory of her kidnapping? All of the evidence seemed to lead us to the conclusion that it had been the Others' hatch, but that would mean that the Others were sophisticated enough to have their own medical station and to wear makeup and disguises- too sophisticated to be hillbillies.

So, where did that leave us? Michael claimed that they were hillbillies, but I was almost entirely certain that they weren't. Could it be possible that Michael was lying? But what reason would Michael have to lie to us? He was our friend, one of our fellow survivors. We'd all been through a lot together- Michael more than most maybe- but I still had a difficult time believing he would do anything to purposefully endanger the rest of us. Then again, Michael had been with the Others, and we had no idea what could have happened to him while he was a prisoner. Could the Others have found some way to turn Michael against us, to get him to betray us?

I hated thinking that Michael might betray us, but we couldn't take that risk. Although I felt bad that I couldn't bring myself to trust one of my friends, I knew what I had to do. Pulling Jack a little aside from the others, I warned him of my suspicions and doubts. Before Jack could reply though, Michael beat him to it, defending his claim by saying he was the one that had been held captive by the Others and had seen how they lived firsthand. Immediately I felt guilty about my inability to trust, but I knew somehow that I'd done the right thing. If Michael really wasn't a traitor, then warning Jack wouldn't do any harm. Besides, it was better to be prepared. Right?

As hard as I tried, even after we left the beach and started towards the Others' camp, the uneasiness I felt never fully left. Each step I took only succeeded in making me all the more troubled, and I couldn't get rid of the feeling that something was wrong, that we were heading towards more danger than we were prepared for. Telling myself it was nothing and that I was overreacting, I masked my feelings by falling into one of my usual conversations with Sawyer. After awhile, when the only sign of anything out of the ordinary was the run we had with a large bird that said something that sounded suspiciously like Hurley's name, I finally allowed myself to relax.

The relief I felt was short lived however, when the skills I had learned hunting with my dad aided me once again and I became aware of people following us. Knowing everyone else was completely clueless, I quickly decided that I had to do something, and I wasted no time in enlisting Sawyer's help in turning the tables on the two men across the river. Taking out the gun Jack had given me back on the beach, I turned and fired at the Others, Sawyer following my lead. Between the two of us, we managed to hit one, but the other man was running. Not good. Determined to stop him before he got away and the Others were alerted to our presence, Sawyer and I crossed the river and started after him, but Jack called us back. Sawyer immediately began to try to get Jack to see reason. Jack however, was adamant, leaving Sawyer and I to question his decision.

I knew Jack had to have a reason for stopping us from going after the man, but I couldn't understand his logic. He had to know that if we let the Other go, we'd be discovered. But looking at Jack, I suddenly saw how defeated he looked. What was going on? Sawyer seemed to sense it too, although he was still eying Jack with a look that seemed to question his sanity.

No one was prepared for the explanation Jack gave us. Out of all the possible explanations we were expecting, no one had even thought Jack would say it didn't matter. In fact, Jack's explanation only served to make me feel even more confused. What did he mean it didn't matter? But none of us could ponder what Jack meant for very long, because our thoughts were suddenly forgotten in hurry when he started yelling at Michael to tell us the truth.

We had no idea what was going on. What truth? Why was Jack yelling at Michael? I was so confused, and by the looks of Sawyer's and Hurley's faces, I wasn't alone. I had never seen Jack so angry. It was true he was angry at Locke after Boone had died, but this seemed different. Nothing made any sense at that moment. All I knew was that Jack was yelling at Michael, the man we were helping to get his son back, and that I had to do something. I shouted for Jack to stop, but either he didn't hear me or he didn't care, because the next minute, he had pinned Michael against a nearby tree. What was he doing? What was going on?

Then suddenly, all I could hear was Michael, begging, pleading for us to understand that he'd had to, that he hadn't had a choice. And I understood. Oh, god. I should have listened to my instincts and what they were telling. I had suspected all along what Michael was confirming now, but I just told myself I was imagining things, that Michael would never betray us. I had been right. Off the island, I wouldn't have wasted time second guessing myself. Off the island, I was a fugitive, and instincts were what I relied on to survive. I couldn't believe I'd allowed myself to be so blind, that I'd allowed myself to actually trust him.

I could only stand, horrified, as Michael told us there had been no other way, that Walt was his son. My eyes widened as I realized what he'd done, and anger surged within me. "You let Henry go?" I accused. Michael sputtered more excuses, but I knew the truth. And if he'd done that...Hurley was thinking along the same lines as well. "Did you kill Ana-Lucia...and Libby?" The silence was deafening, and we all faced him, waiting for the answer we already knew. Again, Michael offered excuses. But this time, I wasn't paying attention. I felt sick. He'd betrayed us. We were his friends, and he'd repaid us by murdering Ana-Lucia and Libby in cold blood, letting Henry go, and then trying to lead us into a trap. How could he?

Betrayal wasn't new to me. I'd been betrayed many times before- by my mom, by my dad, by Ray. I was used to it. But that didn't mean it didn't still hurt. Especially here, on the island, where I'd essentially started over, where I'd tried to forget the past.

Out of all of us, it wasn't hard to see that Hurley was the most affected and the most hurt by the revelation of Michael's betrayal, which wasn't surprising because of how close he had been to Libby. I had felt bad for Hurley originally, knowing how it felt to lose someone I loved. But I couldn't imagine how he must have felt after learning one of his friends was responsible for Libby's death. That's why Hurley declaring he was going to head back to camp wasn't unexpected. What was unexpected was Jack's reaction, however. I never thought Jack would prevent Hurley from going back to camp, especially with what we had just discovered.

When Jack explained why Hurley couldn't go back to camp, Hurley turned to him, accusing him of leading us into danger and reminding me that Jack had known that Michael had betrayed us. He had known Michael was leading us into a trap, and he had still let us follow Michael into the forest, without warning us ahead of time. I had hoped Jack would have at least warned me, and I was hurt when I found out he had known all along what Michael was planning, what Michael had done. But I also knew, from looking at Jack, that he had done what he thought was best and that he was sorry.

I knew better than anyone that, despite what the other survivors thought, Jack wasn't perfect. He might be the leader, but he was still human, and all humans have their faults. I'd always known that Jack wasn't the invincible hero that everyone made him out to be, and seeing him then just confirmed it. He was desperate for us to believe that he wouldn't have lead us out there and into danger without a plan. And I believed him, because Jack felt responsible for our safety and I knew that he wouldn't have kept the truth from us without a good reason. He'd never lead us astray before, and even though I was wary about trusting anyone, especially after what had just happened with Michael, I trusted Jack. He'd done a lot for me. He'd been there for me when everyone else learned that I was a fugitive and turned away. And now it was time for me to return that favor and trust him in return.

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A/N: So, that's it. 'Daring to Trust' is now officially complete. I decided to stop there since the series focuses on the choices the characters made during the finale, and Kate's was whether or not to continue on with Jack. I'm currently working on the next story in the series, 'Down the Hatch,' which is about Locke's, Eko's, Charlie's, and Desmond's POVs. I'm trying to get it done before Season 3 premieres this Wednesday, but I'm fighting a losing battle. If I'm lucky I'll get two out of four chapters done, but that's only if I don't get much homework. Either way, I'm hoping it won't take as long to update as it did with this one. 

Thanks for reading, and remember: I'd appreciate any constructive criticism.

LostObsession, a.k.a. Ana


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